Older People Don’t Eat Enough Protein, Study Shows How To Increase Intake

28 Sep 2016 --- Researchers looking into the low protein intake of elderly people have discovered a number of reasons why the older generation isn’t getting enough of the macronutrient. The researchers hope their could go on to inform strategies to improve protein consumption.

The study from Bournemouth university, follows previous research suggesting that many older adults eat less than the recommended amount of protein, and set out to discover the reasons why.

Protein intake is particularly important as a person ages, as it helps stave off problems associated with low-protein intake, including an increased risk of falls and fractures, a weaker immune system and a higher risk of infection.

Lead researcher, Professor Katherine Appleton, explains: “Eating enough protein is important for our health as we age, but many older people don’t consume enough. Options such as taking protein supplements or having fortified foods are often unpopular, so we chose to focus our research on foods that are naturally high in protein.”

“We wanted to find out how often people were eating animal-based proteins, such as meat, fish, eggs or dairy, and why they appeal.”

Appleton continues, “We surveyed older adults living in the community and found that people were most likely to eat different types of animal protein if they were tasty, affordable and convenient to buy and prepare.”

“As people age they may face problems with eating and digesting some foods which affects what they choose to buy and eat, but unlike other studies, we found that this wasn’t necessarily the most important factor when choosing the foods we were interested in.”

“We found that people were also likely to select food that they perceived to be healthy,” says Appleton, “and these reasons all have implications for the kinds of interventions that are likely to be successful in persuading older people to eat more protein.”

Dr Appleton and her team hope that their discoveries will help identify how to increase protein in the diets of older people.

“Our findings have a number of implications for intervention strategies,” stated Appleton, “Taste was an important factor, so that suggests that we should be considering the use of flavorings and promoting appetizing recipes or taster sessions. We also found that people took into account the healthiness of foods when picking what to buy and eat, so better information and education may also change people’s decisions.”

She adds, “Cost and ease of preparation also emerged as factors in our study. This suggests that the promotion of pre-prepared or pre-cooked foods may make a difference to protein consumption, as might education around the promotion of cheaper sources of protein. This could be as simple as promoting recipes or demonstrations explaining how to reduce waste and use all of the food we buy.”